For almost 20 years, cloud and related technologies have been transforming entire industries. Interestingly, most of the discussions around transformation tend to focus on the technical aspects, technical solutions, platforms, and various as-a-service offerings. Although the technology perspective is very important, it’s not the most critical. Truly transformational projects require a much broader perspective. A truly successful digitization project will change a company to its core. In this Advisor, we explore the impact of cloud-enabled transformation on company culture and identity.

As in the early days of the electric utility, all major cloud providers started off with a “vertically inte­grated” direct sales model (i.e., they also played the role of cloud supplier). However, several major cloud providers have started supporting sales through an indirect sales channel, leveraging specialist partners to reach out to the many different industries that could benefit from cloud services. They have allowed those channel partners to step into the billing chain, thus creating a more unique cloud supplier role, much like those electricity suppliers that stepped into the billing chain between electricity providers and electricity consumers.

As part of an ongoing series on artificial intelligence (AI) in the enterprise, in this Executive Update, we turn specifically to AI development platform preferences, including open source and commercial providers’ development tools and AI-as-a-service platforms. 

As part of an ongoing series on artificial intelligence (AI) in the enterprise, in this Executive Update, we turn specifically to AI development platform preferences, including open source and commercial providers’ development tools and AI-as-a-service platforms. 

Based on our client experience, a significant opportunity to improve the business value of both enterprise architecture (EA) and Agile lies in combining their practices. Several frameworks could help in this sense, and with the right vision in mind, companies can increase their ROI for both EA and Agile. In practice, we have seen several ways in which organizations combine EA with Agile thinking and methods to break through the anti-patterns and improve results. This Advisor highlights a useful example from a Netherlands central gov­ernment client and comes down to the adoption of Agile architectural approaches described in SAFe 4.5.

About a decade ago, Cutter Consortium published my Executive Update series on the project-volatility metric, which examined the notion of project volatility and set forth the assumptions that underlie my own project-planning approach. The framework has grown tremendously. Thus, we are returning to this Update series with a revised Part II and a plethora of Updates to come.

Some of the more interesting developments with artificial intelligence (AI) involve its application in media and entertainment. There is a great deal of innovation underway to utilize AI in practically all aspects of media and entertainment — from content creation, procurement, categorization, and distribution to display, intellectual property (IP) protection, marketing, audience measurement, and customer service.

By learning to simply recognize complexity when we see it — and learning that we cannot engage with it through reductionism — could save ourselves a lot of pain and allow our efforts to focus on quality, rather than on trying to do the impossible. By seeking to understand complexity instead of hiding it, we can build better-quality software with less stress.

My colleagues and I have visualized a line-of-business (LOB) application as a collection of finite state machines (FSMs) that model subjects and their interactions with each other. This immediately brings some much-needed structure to our application, while at the same time allowing it to be perfectly extensible. This structure will help us to automate the generation of LOB apps, as the problem now simplifies to specifying FSMs.

Do not underestimate the pace of evolution of cloud technologies. If no one in the organization watches (and understands) the new cloud delivery technologies, you may choose the wrong one, or you may be misled by a vendor that will fail to mention a better option because the vendor does not offer it.

Many of the principles that were developed for the data warehouse are just as relevant today when considering the evolution to a digital business. Underpinning these principles is the implicit need for the active use and management of a coherent layer of metadata. In discussing the broader digital business, it may help to delineate the various systems and applications that occupy the landscape of such a business.

Here in Part VIII, Robin Harwood has invited me to discuss the use of the ADF in a user experience/user journey context, relating some real-world business analysis experiences in its application.

Here are the Business Agility & Software Engineering Excellence articles that garnered the most feedback from Cutter Members and clients in 2018. Look for these lists from each of our four practice areas, and rediscover Cutter's most intriguing articles of the year!

Here are the Business Technology & Digital Transformation Strategies articles that garnered the most feedback from Cutter Members and clients in 2018. Look for these lists from each of our four practice areas, and rediscover Cutter’s most intriguing articles of the year!

This Executive Update discusses the merits of developing a continuous deployment process for software by combining Agile methods and DevOps. After first looking at the salient characteristics of both techniques, we examine 12 areas of change within the use of Agile methods when developing a continuous delivery and deployment chain. Finally, we discuss why bringing together Agile and DevOps — and the resultant continuous delivery and deployment chain — is truly worthwhile. (Not a client? Download your complimentary copy.)

Here are the Business & Enterprise Architecture articles that garnered the most feedback from Cutter Members and clients in 2018. Look for these lists from each of our four practice areas, and rediscover Cutter's most intriguing articles of the year!

Here are the Data Analytics & Digital Technologies articles that garnered the most feedback from Cutter Members and clients in 2018. Look for these lists from each of our four practice areas, and rediscover Cutter's most intriguing articles of the year!

As part of an ongoing series, in this Executive Update we examine the biggest adoption challenges to organizations’ efforts to utilize artificial intelligence (AI). These impediments include a lack of skilled AI experts, a lack of understanding and identifying use cases, the fact that AI is still an emerging technology, and more.

As part of an ongoing series, in this Executive Update we examine the biggest adoption challenges to organizations’ efforts to utilize artificial intelligence (AI). These impediments include a lack of skilled AI experts, a lack of understanding and identifying use cases, the fact that AI is still an emerging technology, and more.

With twice the product in half the time™ being a generic goal for industry, what exactly is going wrong in today’s industrial environment? What stops or delays improvements in product delivery, despite embracing practices from Lean and Six Sigma? Why does it take years to get a new product out of the manufacturing plant? This Executive Update explores the “why” of these questions and deep-dives into the solution. 

Business architecture is valuable to all organizations, regardless of type or size. This Executive Update discusses how nonprofits and small organizations can leverage business architecture and articulates some considerations for architecting within these types of environments.

Many organizations embark upon the “Agile transformational journey” only to find that what looked simple in the planning process is far more complex in reality. The complexity is in the degree and magnitude of the change and the fact that there is no single prescribed solution that works for all situations. Despite what many traditional consultancies advertise, there is no set pattern to success for senior executives to follow. As the DNA of each organization is unique, the reasons for market success and the strategic vision are distinctive, so the means to alter these formulae must be unique as well.

Many organizations are now focusing on a hybrid cloud strategy: moving part of their IT capabilities to the cloud, while maintaining core elements in-house, hosted on-premises. The hybrid model enables organizations to optimally allocate their resources while keeping their current IT infrastructure operating at low risk. A hybrid cloud strategy not only prepares an organization for the future but also protects its investment today. In this Advisor, we describe hybrid cloud and look at its benefits, including security and compliance, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.

There’s a balance to strike in architecture, no matter what methodology you use to create your software. In Agile contexts, that balance is often lost. And it usually leans to less over more. I think the most important acknowledgement or statement that we should all agree to early on in any architectural discussion is that we don’t know. Out of this level of openness and honesty comes the need for prototyping, discovery, and learning. It’s hard to do that if we don’t look each other in the eyes and say, “We don’t know, let’s find out.”

AI is now being used in the legal field in such areas as research and document management, contract analysis, and e-discovery. Additionally, we are seeing significant developments with commercial AI applications in the form of cloud-based solutions specifically designed for handling such legal needs. These commercial applications, for the most part, are not intended to replace legal practitioners, but rather to assist them in performing various tasks associated with the legal process.